The Silk browser is currently only compatible with the 1st and 2nd generation Fire TV, the 2nd generation Fire TV Stick, and all version of Element and Westinghouse’s Fire TV Edition televisions. Strangely, the browser is not yet available to install on Amazon’s newest Fre TV model, the new 3rd generation “pendent” Fire TV. That’s possibly due to it being the first device to run Amazon’s new Fire OS 6 operating system. There may be incompatibility issues between the Silk browser and the new operating system. The app’s description says it will be available on the new Fire TV next month. The browser is also not compatible with the 1st generation Fire TV Stick, which could be due to that device having a significantly weaker CPU than all other Fire TV models.

Launching the browser loads Bing.com, the default search engine, and a pop-up message that informs you to press the menu button on the remote “to search the web, enter URLs, and more.” The default search engine can be changed from Bing to either Google or Yahoo in the app’s settings. While the browser loads Bing.com the first time it’s launched, there doesn’t seem to be an option to set a home page. Instead, the app remembers the last page you viewed and reloads it the next time you open the browser, even if you force quit the app.

Pressing the menu button brings up the main interface of the browser. At the top are buttons to search/enter URLs, go back a page, go forward a page, request the desktop version of the currently loaded page, and to bookmark the currently loaded page. You can also press the back button on the Fire TV remote to go back to the page you were previously viewing.

Selecting the first button to search or enter a URL brings up standard Fire TV onscreen keyboard. Thanks to a recent Fire TV software update, you can press the microphone button on the voice remote to dictate text while the keyboard is visible. It doesn’t do a particularly good job of recognizing spoken URLs, so you’re better off saying the name of a website and using a search engine to reach it.

Below the main set of buttons is a horizontally scrolling list of saved bookmarks. The last bookmark you saved is at the front of the list and there doesn’t appear to be a way to rearrange the list. You only have the option to highlight a bookmark and press the menu button to delete it.

Below your bookmarks is a list of “trending on the web” articles. It’s not clear where this list comes from and there doesn’t appear to be any options to customize the list. Below the trending news list are options to clear data, report issues, view help documentation, and access the app’s extensive settings.

While browsing the web, web pages take up the entire screen with no user interface or buttons. You press the menu button to return to the options screen, where you can load URLs and bookmarks. Amazon has decided to use an onscreen cursor, similar to my Downloader app’s built-in browser, that you move around with the directional buttons on the remote. Early versions of the Silk browser used an intricate way of locating and selecting links on the page with a series of button combinations. While it worked fairly well, it seems Amazon has abandoned the idea. The cursor on the screen doubles as a loading icon and turns blue when it is over a link you can click.

In the Silk browser’s description, Amazon touts its ability to “easily control web videos” using the play/pause, fast forward, and rewind buttons on the Fire TV remote. Videos embedded into web pages work very well. You need to use the cursor to hover over and click a video to begin playing it, but once it’s playing, you can use the media buttons on the remote to play/pause the video and seek through the video using the fast-forward and rewind buttons. You can also press the full-screen button, using the onscreen cursor, to fill the screen with the video.

One more thing about Philo running in the Silk browser…you can use the fast forward and rewind buttons as skip ahead and skip back. And the play/pause button works as well.

The guide did not seem to work properly for me, as it didn’t want to scroll past the information that loaded. But as long as you have setup your favorite shows or just want to browse the shows that are trending or featured, it’s pretty easy to use.

I really like the design, size and form factor of the Echo Show, but have no use for Alexa. I mainly want to use it as a set top TV on my kitchen counter top. Echo doesn’t have any cable TV service apps or even Netflix. What else can do that besides a tablet? It’s the size and shape of the Echo Show that’s attactive to me.

*UPDATE* after reading through the technical details, I see it shows Android 5.0 as the minimum so I’m assuming Amazon OS 5.0.5 will just make the cut? I suspect I still might have some compatibility issues, guess I’ll give it a go and hope for the best!

I am happy to report silk does function with Amazon OS 5.0.5, you are correct Elias, mic input does work. I had difficulty with the onscreen keyboard hiding the predictive text as well! As expected no flash support, bummer as not every website has made the switch to html5.

Remote control implementation is about as well as could be expected, I guess? They need to overhaul the Fire TV remote app to be able to morph into a Silk mode of control from couch. Input URL’s/favorites and go back and forward and 2-finger swipe scrolling from a tablet or phone onto Fire TV Silk. That would help a lot.

Anyone able to scroll down a webpage with this?
I went to Vudu to see if I can watch movies in my Ultraviolet library which aren’t part of movies anywhere. I can see the first two rows of movies, but am unable to scroll the page down to see the rest. Have tried moving the curser to the bottom of the page and also clicking the scroll bar on the right of the screen. Neither have any effect.

Changing the search engine to Google will not cause Google to load when you launch the browser. The setting only affects what search engine is used when you type a search. The browser will always load the last page you visited. It keeps loading Bing for you because that’s the first page it ever loads and you haven’t loaded any other pages yet.

I believe you can lock in a URL as a Silk home page by rebooting the FTV device (cycling power) after browsing to the site in Silk. Tested the sequence twice and it sticks. The page will always be the last page to load prior to the Stay/Exit selection when exiting the app.

Meh. Can’t use Silk to download anything. Can’t download pdf or apk. Pop up states something like “not currently supported.” Silk is not yet ready to replace my collection of browsers that allow Fire TV to function like a desktop.

Regarding “Launching the browser loads…a pop-up message that informs you to press the menu button on the remote” Obviously user error here, but how do you get rid of this pop-up? it just sits there blocking my view of the screen, can’t X out, if I hit back button it asks me if I want to exit the browser. Any help would be greatly appreciated!